Ribbon Candy Felt Ornaments

With its looping curves and bright sugary colors, ribbon candy is a thing of beauty. I love its old-time Christmas feeling too. What I don’t love is eating it! If we’re talking holiday candy, I’d much rather go for a peppermint candy cane or a chocolaty piece of Hanukkah gelt. Ribbon candy is awkward to break apart, dangerously sharp and a little bland on the taste buds. Plus, it’s too pretty to eat!

These Ribbon Candy Felt Ornaments deliver the charm of this traditional treat without getting you sticky! They are made from our Wool Felt Pieces in a rainbow of cheerful colors, accented by equally spirited machine-sewn zigzags.

Small ornaments like this are, for me, the perfect kind of holiday sewing, They are quick but considered, colorful yet classic, cute but unfussy. Maybe it’s their old fashioned motif or the fact that they are sewn in an assembly line style reminiscent of Santa’s workshop, but these sweet little baubles really scratch that yuletide itch… and best of all you don’t have to eat them! -Molly

Materials

These instructions are to make 14 ornaments but you will have enough felt to make many more!

Size

Pattern

Cutting

Cut one 18-inch by 1-inch strip from each colored piece of felt, for seven total colored felt strips.

Cut seven 18-inch by 1-inch strips from the ecru felt.

Sewing

On the colored strips: Using the ecru sewing thread (color 1040), sew a row of zigzag stitching 3/8-inch from either long side of the strips, down the entire length of the strip.

On the ecru strips: Using a different color of the colored sewing thread for each of the seven strips, sew two rows of zigzag stitching down each ecru strip, as described above.

Starting at the bottom of the strip and using the fabric marker, make a mark every inch along the center of the strip for 16 inches.

Thread a hand sewing needle with a 20-inch length of the Pearl Cotton and tie a knot at the end.

Push the needle through from the unmarked side of the strip to the marked side at the bottom marking.

Reinsert the needle right next to the same mark (this will hide the knot on the inside of the ornament) and then exit at the next mark.

Enter at the next mark, exiting at the next, and keep sewing up the strip in this manner, like a very large running stitch in and out of the marked points. Pucker the strip up along the thread as you go.

Once you’ve gone through all 16 marks, adjust the folds of the strip so they are pleasantly curly, not too tight and not too loose. Tie a small knot at the top of the ornament to secure the folds.

Pull the needle back through the center of the ornament and out the bottom leaving a 2-inch loop at the top.

Snip off the thread at the bottom, just at the exit point to hide the end.

Tie a simple overhand knot at the top to secure the loop.

Snip off the ends of the strip so that they match the edge of the folds and you’re all done!

Love these! But have to disagree with you on the eating of this delicious candy. My daughters know to get me a box as soon as they see it! I’m mostly unable to leave my house or my bed most of the time. It can be very depressing but they know they’ll get a smile when they hand a box of these to me!